TALKS BREAK DOWN: BOARD RECOMMENDED Conciliation Officers Fail To Mediate IWA Dispute Inability to bridge the gulf’ between the contract Otic Pettiaie of te International Wooduorhers of America wh. Dieta Cosel tat Vol. XXII, No. 9 > 3 Ist ISSUE, MAY 1955 - VANCOUVER, B.C. 5c PER COPY Ss District Heads Re-Elected Results of the membership referendum vote to elect District Officers were tabled by the Tabulating Committee at the recent meeting of the District Ex- ecutive Board of the IWA in B.C. Those elected were then given the oath of office by Lloyd Whalen, President, Local 1-217, IWA, and duly installed for the two-year term. The balloting elected: As President, Joe Morri: is (re-elected). As 1st Vice-Pres., William N. Gray (re-elected). As 2nd Vice-Pres., Stuai As 8rd Vice-Pres., Fred As Secretary-Treasurer, rt M. Hodgson (re-elected). Fieber (re-elected). , Geo, Mitchell (re-elected). As Trustee, Ed W. Haw (re-elected). As International Board elected). Member, Walter Allen (re- By-law amendments Numbers 1 and 2 were given majorities. RESTMORE IWA LOCKED OUT Arbitrary dismissal upon five minutes’ notice of all IWA members employed by the Restmore Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for alleged insubordination, has necessitated action by the members of Local 1-217 IWA, Vancouver to prevent an attempt to destroy IWA organization in the furniture plants of the city. The rapidity with which the management seized upon a tri- vial incident to lock-out all its employees in order to hire re- placements from among non- union men has given rise to the suspicion that all such moves were planned long in advance. The IWA -Plant Committee Chairman, Tom Haggart, was singled out as the victim of petty persecution, It had been his cus- tom to make up the pay-tally for his piece-work rates just prior to the end of his shift. On Mon- day, May 9, he was ordered to do this clerical work on his own time, and have it ready by eight the next morning. He protested, and was then in- formed that he was fired. The news reached the other employ- ees with the result that as they entered the plant next morning, an indignation meeting rapidly gathered. You're All Fired ‘The Manager then appeared on the scene and ordered them to return to work in five minutes or WHAT'S INSIDE they would all be fired. The order was not obeyed immediately, and See “RESTMORE” Page 3 ALBERTA OPENS DRIVE Two new IWA Local Unions have been organized and chartered as a result of the organizational drive in- itiated by the B.C. organiza- tion upon extension of its jurisdiction over the Proy- ince of Alberta. This latest development caused the District Executive Board td order a change in the designation of the District Council in British Columbia from “B.C. District No. 1” to simply “District No. 1”. A full report on the Alberta campaign was submitted to the Board by 1st Vice-President Wil- liam Gray, who had supervised activities in Southern Alberta. International Representative Mike Sekora has been active in the Northern portion of the pro- vince, and has established an IWA office in Edmonton. The Vice-President’s report re- vealed that eight additional op- erations had been certified, and that a number of applications were pending. Steps had been taken, he ex- plained, to negotiate contracts in all certified operations, in order that more satisfactory wage stan- dards: might be established. He estimated the new member- See “ALBERTA” Page 3 settlemerit proposals of the IWA, and the uncompromising position taken by the lumber operators caused a govern- ment conciliation officer on May 11 to recommend the appointment of a Conciliation Board. This announcement came after a series of last-minute confer- ences, during which the Chief Conciliation Officer, Mr. William Fraser joined Mr. Robert Forgie in a special effort to mediate the igsues in dispute, That the employers were not prepared to parley with the Union in a conciliatory manner was made apparent by the mem- bers of the IWA Negotiating Committee who addressed large rallies of shop stewards during the previous weekend. Accord- ingly, plans were set in motion to ready the organization for any eventuality likely to ensue upon Conciliation Board proceedings. The District Policy Committee was summoned to meet on ‘May 10 and continued in session to deal with these ‘developments. In a statement to members of the Union, District President Joe Morris, Chairman of the Nego- tiating Committee said: “We can reach only one con- clusion as a result of our con- ferences with the employers’ re- presentatives conducted by the Conciliation Branch during the past few days, The employers evidently intend to make us fight with all the means at our dispos- al to gain any proper considera- tion of improved contract terms. The employers’ attitude indic- ates that they are prepared to risk anything that may result from open conflict, rather than part with any share of the pro- fits now being derived from the last year’s unprecedented produc- tion cand shipments, spurred by exceptional market prospects. ‘We have made all possible ef- forts to conciliate this dispute, but at every turn have been con- fronted by the “stone-wall” -op- position of the employers. We told them that we were prepared to recommend to the membership the acceptance’ of terms consid- erably “scaled-down” in value from those originally outlined. Our peace overtures were count- ered with provocative attempts to impose worsened contract con- ditions, baited with a few ab- fsurdly low concessions. I know that it is the will of the membership of our Union, that we firmly reject any. contract proyision which will impair work- ing conditions or lower our stan- dards. I also believe that the members of the IWA will not shrink from any fight, if a fight is necessary, to secure the con- tract terms to which they are entitled, and which the industry can now easily afford. We welcome the opportunity to state our case publicly before a Conciliation Board, We are in the possession of evidence justi- fying our claims which cannot be successfully denied. Any re- port made without bias must up- hold the justice of our proposals. We will make certain that at every stage, the employers will be faced with a democratic ex- pression of opinion from their own employees with regard to employer-inspired policies threat- ening the welfare of the lumber workers. We expect IWA members to prepare themselves to act in unison as their interests demand, when such occasions arise.” INSTALLATION, of District Officers recently elected by a membership referendum yote, by President Lloyd Whalen, Local 1-217, IWA. (Left to right) Lloyd Whalen; Vice-President, Stuart M. Hodgson; 3rd Vice-President Fred Ficber; NEWLY-ELECTED sia OFFICERS was conducted at the last District Executive Board meeting District President Joe Morris; 1st Vice-President William Gray; 2nd Secretary-Treasurer, George Mitchell; International Board Member Walter Allen LISTEN TO Green Gold-CJOR 7.00 p.m. Thursday , CKNW 7:05 pm. Sat, CJAV 6:30 p.m. Thur. ‘ CKPG - Ist and 3rd Thursday - 6 p.m. CHWK - Monday, 7:15 pm. to 730 pm.